Archive
Flossing and Dental Insurance
Here’s the video. Here’s the script: Confused? You’re not alone. Obviously the fact that I have put the two subjects in a single title implies they have some things in common, and they do. Many things, actually. For one thing, they have ME in common. I’m interested in both and yet most people are not […]
- Posted in Dentistry, Patient Education, Periodontal Disease, Periodontal Therapy, Thoughts For Patients
- January 14th 2019
Why Flossing is Important
A book about flossing your teeth? Really? I am a periodontist, which means I am a dentist with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of gum diseases. Yes, some of it is pretty complicated, but not all of it. After years of study and after treating thousands of patients, I have come to […]
- Posted in Dental Hygienists, In the News, Patient Education, Periodontal Disease, Periodontal Therapy, The Human Side of Dentistry, Thoughts For Patients
- May 17th 2017
One Way to Check Out a Dental Practice
What’s the best way for people to find a high-quality dental practice? I think it begins by doing what you are doing right now — searching the Internet for ideas, suggestions and dental practices near you. To make a reasonable decision, you need to become fairly knowledgeable about two things. First, you need to know […]
Why Some Periodontists Use Lasers
This is a good video and describes why certain lasers work for gum disease and others do not. It also describes how periodontists like me have to work through the pros and cons of certain procedures before (1) deciding on additional training and (2) changing office procedures. Some periodontists have not moved to using lasers in […]
- Posted in Blog, Dentistry, Patient Education, Periodontal Therapy
- October 4th 2016
The Purpose of Anger

There is a purpose for anger and it isn’t to give me an excuse to break things. Anger can cause me to become aware of the fact that something is bugging me a lot. It might help me stop and ask myself what is going on? Where is this overwhelming emotion coming from? Ultimately anger might […]
- Posted in Blog, In the News, The Human Side of Dentistry
- July 19th 2016
Three Reasons You Might Want to See a Periodontist

A periodontist is a specialist in dentistry with advanced training in problems involving the tissues that surround the teeth. This includes things familiar to people, like the gums (its fancy name is gingiva) and bone; but also things most people outside of dentistry have never heard of, like cementum and periodontal ligament. To become a […]
- Posted in Blog, Dentistry, Patient Education, Periodontal Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, Periodontal Disease, Thoughts For Patients
- March 2nd 2016
Which came first, tooth loss or dementia?
If you aren’t brushing and flossing regularly, is it a memory thing? Or could it be that dental infections are affecting your memory? There is a new study out attempting to determine if a correlation exists between early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and tooth loss. The thinking is that inflammation originating in the mouth might be affecting […]
- Posted in Thoughts For Patients
- January 11th 2011
Dentist smokers advising smoking patients
At a hospital based dental school in Japan almost 1 dental instructor in 5 currently smokes. 15% are former smokers. A questionnaire was given out to 92 professionals (dentists, physicians, hygienists and nurses) asking about how they intervene with patients who smoke. The study found that only 25% of the current smoking patients were given […]
- Posted in In the News
- December 7th 2010
A Radically Different Way to Stop Smoking
I spoke about the reason I never became a smoker, and I owe it to my grandfather. Society attempts to modify behavior by passing laws. I have found that this does not reach the heart of the addiction. So watch this and tell me what you think.
- Posted in The Human Side of Dentistry, Thoughts For Patients, Videos
- October 12th 2010